UK-based Lloyd's Register apologises for its historic role in slavery

By Catarina Demony

LONDON (Reuters) - British maritime services firm Lloyd's Register apologised on Wednesday for its role in enslaving Africans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

At least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported by European ships and sold into slavery from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Britain enslaved over 3 million, and the City of London was the financial centre of the trafficking.

The firm, founded in 1760, said research commissioned in 2022 showed it had provided information about the seaworthiness of ships used to transport Africans across the Atlantic, facilitating the ships' sales and insurance.

LR, now owned by the Lloyd's Register Foundation charity, added that some of members of its governing committee were directly involved in the enslaving or trafficking of Africans in that era.

"What is clear from this initial research is that, from our founding in 1760 until the UK's Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, we played an important role supporting a maritime system that enabled the slave economy," LR said in a statement on its website.

"We are deeply sorry for this part of our history."

LR said it was responding with two immediate steps, granting 1 million pounds ($1.23 million) to a slavery archive project and proposing a partnership with Liverpool's International Slavery Museum.

LR joins other British institutions that have acknowledged their links to slavery, including top universities such as Cambridge, the Bank of England and brewery Greene King.

The apology comes as efforts to win reparations or other redress for historical wrongs continue to gain momentum.

Proponents of reparations say slavery's legacy has caused persistent racial inequalities while opponents say countries and institutions should not be held responsible today for historical wrongs.

($1 = 0.8118 pounds)

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)